Rochdale 0 - 3 Blackburn Rovers

Date published: 09 September 2017

Blackburn Rovers made it three wins in a row as they comfortably dispatched Rochdale, still looking for their first league win of the season, at the Crown Oil Arena.

Richie Smallwood volleyed in the opener from Elliott Bennett’s cross. On loan Leeds man Marcus Antonsson slotted home a second just after the interval. A mistake from Dale keeper Brendan Moore gifted a third to Rovers when he spilled the ball to substitute Danny Graham who rounded the stricken stopper to tap into an empty net.

With Ian Henderson suspended, Dale manager Keith Hill gave the captain’s arm band to Jim McNulty and made three changes to the side that drew at Southend. Steven Davies replaced Henderson and Donervon Daniels made his full debut in place of Joe Rafferty at right back. Joe Bunney returned from injury in the other full back role, with Niall Canavan dropping to the bench. Josh Lillis and Ollie Rathbone took places on the bench after injury kept them out in recent weeks.

Backed by over 3,000 travelling fans, Rovers took the game by the scruff of the neck and took the lead inside 10 minutes. Bennett was afforded far too much time and space down the right as he picked out the run of Smallwood, who crashed home a smart volley giving Moore no chance in the Dale goal.

The first half had very little goal mouth incident as both sides cancelled each other out.

The second half began with Balckburn showing a little more urgency and they began to close down Dale much quicker than in the first half.

At times Dale struggled to clear their lines and when Bennett’s header was blocked by McNulty, Antonsson was on hand to calmly slot the loose ball past Moore.

With the two goal advantage, Rover had more of a swagger about them as they kept possession and frustrated Dale.

When Dale did manage to get through a stubborn Blackburn defence, the woodwork came to the rescue. Andy Cannon’s goalbound shot was blocked and when the ball sat nicely for Williams, the on loan Liverpool man saw his cracking effort deflected onto the cross bar.

Despite being two goals down, Dale didn’t panic and tried the measured approach, again denied by a mixture of good defending and poor forward play.

Despite Dale gaining in confidence, it was Blackburn who scored a third after a howler from Moore. Rover’s substitute Harry Chapman overran the ball when heading into the area allowing the keeper to slide out and gather, but he somehow lost control of the ball and spilled it to Graham. The experienced striker couldn’t believe his luck as he went around the keeper to make it three.

David Raya in the Rovers goal had a very quiet afternoon with not a single Dale shot on target; Matt Done came the closest for Dale in the final moments, but his shot was cleared away from the far post with Raya beaten.

The win-less run continues for Rochdale, who entertain Doncaster Rovers at the Crown Oil Arena on Tuesday evening.

Rochdale: Moore, Daniels, McGahey, McNulty (c), Bunney, Kitching (Inman 70), M.J Williams, Done, Cannon, Williams (Rathbone 58), Davies (Gillam 81)
Substitutes: (not used) Lillis, Rafferty, Canavan, Brown

Blackburn: Raya, Caddis, Downing, Ward, Williams, Bennett, Evans, Smallwood, Conway (c) (Chapman 65), Samuel (Graham 76), Antonsson (Dack 62)
Substitutes: (not used) Leutwiler, Harper, Whittingham, Galdwin

Referee: Mr S Martin
Assistants: Mr M Jones and Mr D Avent
Fourth Official: Mr R Wooton

Attendance: 6,524